The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)

During this battle we saw a very fat old Indian female marching up and down between the enemy's ranks. She was, we were told, venerated as a goddess by these people. She had divined to her countrymen that we should be vanquished the moment she appeared among them on the field of battle. This woman carried in her hands an idol, carved of stone; and an earthen censer, in which she burnt incense; her body was daubed all over with various colours, and raw cotton was sticking to the paint. Without evincing the least fear she walked into the midst of our Indian allies while they were hotly engaged with the enemy; but this cursed witch met with very little respect from them, for they tore her limb from limb.

When we saw what terrific bodies of the enemy attacked us from all sides, and the astonishing bravery with which they fought, we began to consider ourselves in a very critical position, and we begged of father Juan to commend us in prayer to the protection of the Almighty. We then once more fell vigorously upon the enemy and put them to flight. Numbers concealed themselves in the fissures of the rocks, others threw themselves into the river and sought to escape by swimming, of which art these Indians are likewise perfect masters. We now halted for a short time while father Juan sang a salve, in which those who had a good voice joined in chorus. This melody was indeed pleasing to the ear, and we thanked the Almighty the more fervently for this victory, when we considered our great loss in killed and wounded. We then marched to a small township at no great distance from the town, near the river side. Here the cherry-trees were hanging full of ripe fruit, for it was then lent, which is the season when cherries come to perfection in this country, and they were of a most delicious flavour; we spent the whole day here in order to bury our dead in places where they would not easily be discovered by the inhabitants. Several of our men were wounded, and ten of the horses very severely so; we therefore resolved to pass the night in this township.

The hour of midnight was already past, when ten distinguished Indians arrived in our camp from the townships in the neighbourhood of Chiapa. They had crossed the deep and broad river with five canoes in the utmost silence, in order to elude the vigilance of the Chiapanec troops, and as they came creeping along the bank in a very suspicious manner they were seized by our outposts and brought in prisoners, which was the very thing they desired. When brought into the presence of our captain they addressed him as follows: "We are not, sir, Chiapanecs, but natives of the province of Xaltepec. The base Chiapanecs once commenced a destructive war with us and put great numbers of our countrymen to death, and after plundering us of all we possessed they carried off the greater part of the inhabitants with our wives into slavery, to till their grounds. It is now twelve years that we have toiled for them in base servitude. We are compelled to labour in the plantations of our oppressors, are obliged to fish for them and to do all manner of hard work; but this is not all, for whenever it suits them they forcibly carry off our wives and daughters. We now come to offer you a sufficient number of canoes to pass the river, which we will despatch hither this very night. We will also point out to you the safest ford, for we assure you, without our assistance, you will have great difficulty and run great risk in crossing over. In reward for this good office, we beg of you when you shall have vanquished these Chiapanecs, to rescue us out of their power and allow us to return to our homes. And in order that you may place perfect reliance in what we have stated, we have brought as a present for you three ornaments of gold in the shape of diadems, which we have left behind in the canoes, besides some fowls and cherries."

They then begged permission of our captain to return to their canoes, in order to fetch these presents, telling him what great precaution they were obliged to use not to fall into the hands of the enemy, who had posted watches everywhere along the river.

Our captain joyfully accepted of their kind offer, and not only promised to grant them their wish of returning to their own country, but to give them a share of the booty we should make in Chiapa. On further questioning them respecting the last battle, they informed us that the enemy had above 120 dead and wounded, but they were determined to attack us the next day again with their united forces; besides that, they would bring into the field the inhabitants of the townships which they, the ambassadors, now represented, but assured our captain they had secretly agreed among themselves to run over to him as soon as the action commenced. The enemy intended, they further said, to fall upon us while we were crossing the river, should we make this dangerous attempt.

Two of these Indians remained with us, while the others returned to their townships, in order to make the necessary arrangements for despatching twenty canoes to us by break of day, which arrived punctually at the time mentioned. In the meantime we laid ourselves down to enjoy a little rest, but took every precaution in posting our watches, as we could plainly hear the wild music of shell-trumpets and drums each time a fresh body of the enemy arrived on the banks of the river.

When day began to dawn we again recognized our new friends as they were secretly coming up with their canoes; but the Chiapanecs had already suspected these people would turn their arms against them, and run over to our side, and had taken several of them prisoners; the rest had fled to the top of an elevated temple, where they fortified themselves, and so it happened that the battle should first commence between the enemy and their former slaves.

Our new allies now led us to the place where we were to ford the river, and they exerted themselves to the utmost to hasten our passage across, for they feared the enemy would sacrifice those of their countrymen whom they had captured in the night, unless we arrived speedily to their rescue. When we came to the ford our horse and foot united in a close body together, in order to stand the better against the rapid stream; we then boldly marched into the water, which reached up to our breasts; but the canoes kept close up with us at our side, and in this way we fortunately reached the opposite shore; but here we were suddenly attacked by the enemy with excessive fury before the half of us could get on dry ground. The greater part of us were instantly wounded, some severely so in two places; two of the horses were lost, and one cavalry soldier, named Guerra or Guerrero, a native of Toledo, had unfortunately got with his horse into a whirlpool, where he himself was drowned, but his horse swam on shore.

We were unable for a length of time to gain a firm footing on dry land, and drive back the enemy; nor could we succeed till our new allies fell upon their rear, and richly did they repay them for their last twelve years of oppression. The whole of us now leaped on shore, and attacked the enemy so vigorously that they fled away in disorder. Our captain then drew up the troops in order of battle, desired our new allies, who had assembled in great numbers, to join our ranks, and in this way, with flying colours, we marched in a direct line for the metropolis itself. When we arrived in the principal quarter of the town, where the temples stood, we found the houses so crowded together, that we durst not risk to quarter ourselves there, from fear of fire, but encamped in an open space, where we were out of all danger. Our general then despatched three of our new allies, and six Chiapanec chiefs, whom we had taken prisoners, with a message to the enemy, desiring them to submit peaceably to our emperor. These messengers were also commissioned to inform the enemy that if they sued for peace without delay, their recent hostilities would be pardoned; but in case they refused to do so, we were determined to punish them severely, and would commence by setting fire to the town. These threats soon brought the enemy to their senses, and they immediately despatched ambassadors to us with a present in gold, offered various excuses for having commenced hostilities with us, and declared themselves vassals of our emperor. At the same time they begged of our captain to forbid our allies setting fire to any more of their dwellings; for they had burnt down several houses in a small township near Chiapa. Luis Marin willingly complied with this request, and strictly commanded both our allies and the inhabitants of Cachula not to commit any further destruction of property.

In this town we found three large wooden cages filled with prisoners, all of whom were merchants, who had been purposely waylaid on the high road by the Chiapanecs, and thrown into these dens to fatten for their sacrifices, and they were all fastened by means of collars to strong beams. Some of these unfortunate beings belonged to the country of the Tzapotecs, others to that of the Quilenes, and several of them were inhabitants of Guautepec and of the province of Soconusco.

We instantly liberated the whole of these prisoners, and sent them to their respective homes. We also found in the temples diabolical looking idols, all of which father Juan ordered to be burnt on the spot, with the remains of several old and young Indians who had been sacrificed in these buildings. In the temples we also discovered traces of other abominations of a most horrible nature.

Our captain now sent to every township in the neighbourhood, desiring the inhabitants to come and sue for peace, and to declare themselves vassals of our emperor. The first who came over were the people of Cinacatan, Capanaustla, Pinola, Quehuiztlan, Chamula, and those of other townships, whose names I have forgotten; after these came the Quilenes, and other tribes who speak the Zoque language. All these tribes expressed their utter astonishment that we should have been able to vanquish the Chiapanecs with so small a body of men, but were excessively rejoiced, for the whole of them were at enmity with this people.

We remained altogether five days in Chiapa, during which time father Juan celebrated the holy mass, confessed many of our men, and preached several sermons to the Indians in their own language, of which he possessed considerable knowledge. The inhabitants listened to him with great delight, knelt down before the cross, and promised they would allow themselves to be baptized. They became indeed excessively fond of father Juan, and said we appeared to be a very good kind of people. While we were thus living on the most friendly terms with the inhabitants, one of our men, without asking our captain's leave, quitted the camp with eight Mexicans, and marched to the township of Chamula, which had already submitted to our arms without offering any resistance. This man demanded, in the name of his captain, gold ornaments from the inhabitants, of which they gave him a small quantity; but finding at length he could exact no more from them, he took the principal cazique prisoner, which presumptuous behaviour so exasperated the inhabitants, that at first they were going to kill the Spaniard, but for the moment contented themselves by rising up in arms, and persuaded their neighbours of Quehuiztlan to do the same. When Luis Marin received intelligence of this, he ordered the guilty Spaniard to be brought into his presence, and immediately sent him off to Mexico, there to appear before the tribunal of Cortes, being unwilling to punish him himself, as he was a person in high authority; nor will I, for the sake of his honour, mention his name at present, as I shall again have occasion to speak about him, for he afterwards committed an offence of a more criminal nature, and was, upon the whole, very cruel to the Indians. Luis Marin then sent a messenger to the Chamulans, desiring them to return to their former obedience, as he had sent the Spaniard who had offended them to Mexico, where he would meet with severe punishment; but they returned a most impudent answer to this message, which we were the more determined to resent, as they had incited their neighbours of the surrounding townships to join them in the revolt. We therefore resolved to march against Chamula, and not to desist until we had thoroughly subdued the inhabitants.

Before our departure, father Juan and our captain said many edifying things to the inhabitants of Chiapa respecting our holy religion, and admonished them to abolish their idol-worship, the sacrificing of human beings, and other abominations which they practised. Father Juan then placed a cross and the image of the blessed Virgin on the altar which had been erected, and Luis Marin explained to them, among other things, how we were all vassals of our great emperor, and then took possession of above half their town, in which we intended to form a settlement. Our new allies, who were so serviceable to us in assisting us across the river, marched, with their wives, children, and all their property from the land of the Chiapanecs, and settled themselves forty miles further down the river, at a spot where at present Xaltepec stands, the neighbouring township of Istatlan being also comprehended in their territory.

Before we entered on our expedition against Chamula, we sent to the inhabitants of Cinacatan, who are a people of sound understanding, and, for the greater part, merchants, desiring them to provide us with 200 porters, as we should pass over their town on our way to Chamula. In the same way we requested the Chiapanecs to furnish us with 200 of their warriors to join us in this campaign; these they supplied without any hesitation.

In this way we marched out one morning very early from Chiapa, and arrived on the first day near some salt pits, where the people of Cinacatan had erected huts for us made of green boughs; and about noon on the following day, which happened to be Easter Sunday, we reached the latter township itself. From this place we once more sent a message to the Chamulans, desiring them to return to obedience; but as they still obstinately refused, we were obliged to continue our march thither. The distance from Cinacatan to Chamula may have been about twelve miles; the town itself, from its natural position, was a perfect fortress, and on the side we contemplated our attack was a deep ravine, which was even more formidable and less easy of approach at other points. When we had arrived near to the town, we were greeted by so vast a number of arrows, darts, and stones from the heights above, that the ground was literally covered with them, and five Spaniards, with four horses, were wounded; the enemy, at the same time, yelling most hideously, accompanied by the wild music of shell-trumpets, pipes, and drums, all of which must indeed have terrified those who had never heard the like before. Our captain soon discovered that the cavalry would not be able to act at all among these rugged mountains, and therefore ordered them to move back again into the plain beneath, and watch the movements of the Quiahuitlans, who had likewise revolted, and might fall upon our rear while we were thus hotly engaged with the Chamulans.

We now commenced an incessant fire upon the enemy with our muskets and crossbows, but were unable to do them any injury, so securely were they posted behind the breastworks, their position being in every respect advantageous, and they continually wounded our men. In this way the battle lasted until nightfall, and we were no further advanced than when we commenced our attack in the morning. At one time we attempted to force a passage which led between the ramparts; but here no less than 2000 Indians stretched out against us a forest of long lances; and if we had entered this passage we should have run great danger of being pushed headlong down the deep hollow, and so have been dashed to atoms. Finding we should never be able to make any impression on the fortress in this way, we determined to send to a small township in the neighbourhood for some wood and other materials, and to construct a species of penthouse sufficiently large to cover twenty men, who were to undermine the fortress with mattocks and pick-axes. Accordingly, when the penthouse was finished, our men set hard to work, and at length succeeded in cutting an opening sufficiently large to admit one person at a time; and by this means only was it possible to get into the town, for we had carefully inspected the spot on all sides, full four miles in circumference, and we found but one other entrance to this rocky height, which would have been even more difficult to force, and a person might as well have thrown himself at once down an abyss as to have attempted an attack upon it, so very steep was the descent. While we were busily at work under our penthouse in widening the breach, the enemy cast down upon us a quantity of burning pitch and resin, boiling water and blood, hot ashes and firebrands; but when they found we were not to be daunted by this, they rolled down huge pieces of rock upon the penthouse, by which it was shattered, and we were obliged to retire in order to construct stronger ones.

When these were finished, and we were again moving on with them towards the breaches we had made, four priests, with several distinguished personages, all well covered with shields, appeared on the battlements, and cried out to us, "As your only object is to obtain gold, come in here, we have it in abundance!" With these words they threw towards us seven diadems of very fine gold, besides various other trinkets, all of which they accompanied by a cloud of stones, arrows, and darts. As we had by this time made two considerable breaches, and it was growing dark and beginning to rain, we retreated to our camp for the remaining part of the day: our captain also sent orders to the cavalry not to quit their position on the level plain, but narrowly to watch the enemy's movements, and to keep their horses ready saddled and bridled.

The enemy continued their fearful yells during the whole of the night, with the discordant sound of shell-trumpets, drums, and screeching pipes. The next day, they said, we were all to be killed, for this had been promised them by their gods. The following morning early, when we again moved forward with our penthouses to widen the breaches, the enemy defended themselves right valiantly, and wounded five of our men. I myself received a heavy thrust from a lance, which completely pierced my armour, and I should certainly have lost my life on the spot if my cuirass had not been strongly quilted with cotton. Thus I fortunately escaped with only a slight wound, and with my jacket considerably torn.

By this time it was mid-day, and rain fell in torrents, which was followed by so dense a fog that we could scarcely see each other; for as this township lay very high among the mountains, it either rained there, or the place was enveloped in a mist. Owing to the great darkness, our captain had ordered the men to desist from the attack; but, for myself, as I was well acquainted with the Mexican mode of warfare, I soon concluded, from the circumstance of the enemy's war music gradually dying away, and their yells becoming less frequent, that they were likewise desirous of retiring, on account of the fog. After a short time I could not count above 200 of the enemy's lances; so that I, with one of my companions, boldly entered one of the breaches, and we certainly did not encounter a greater number of the enemy than I had counted lances. In an instant they fell upon us, and we should undoubtedly have been killed if some Indians of Cinacatan had not hastened to our assistance and alarmed the rest of our troops, who now likewise forced their way in between the breaches into the fortress. As soon as the enemy espied our troops rushing in, they fled precipitately; the women and children ran off to the other declivity, which was the most difficult to reach; we, however, followed them closely, and took a number of them prisoners, besides thirty men. The township was now entirely in our possession, but we found nothing in it, with the exception of a few provisions, and we quitted the place almost immediately again. We then returned along the road leading to Cinacatan, and formed our camp on the banks of the river where at present Ciudad Real stands, which is also termed Chiapa de los Españoles. When we had arrived here, our captain liberated six of the women and a like number of the men, and despatched them to their countrymen with offers of peace, and also to assure them they had nothing further to fear from us, – on the contrary, we would liberate all the prisoners we had taken. This message met with a favorable reception, and ambassadors were sent to us next morning by the inhabitants, who now, for the second time, declared themselves vassals of our emperor, and, as we had promised, all the prisoners were instantly restored to their families.

After we had satisfactorily arranged all matters here, Luis Marin presented the township of Chamula to me as a commendary, for Cortes had expressly desired him to give me some valuable possession in the conquered countries. I always stood upon very good terms with Luis Marin, and he had not forgotten that I was the first man who forced his way into the town. This place, according to the deeds I received from Cortes, was given to me in perpetuity, but I only enjoyed the rents which it produced for little more than eight years, at the end of which time Ciudad Real was founded, and my commendary became the property of the inhabitants. When I entered into possession of it, I desired father Juan to preach to the inhabitants, and to explain our holy religion to them, with which he willingly complied, and ordered an altar to be constructed in the town, on which he placed a cross and the image of the blessed Virgin. Fifteen of the inhabitants allowed themselves to be baptized, and the father said he hoped to God they might all become good Catholic Christians. I felt highly delighted with all this; for, as these people were my own property, I naturally took a more particular interest in their welfare.

Though Chamula had again submitted to our arms, the townships of Guegustitlan still obstinately held out, notwithstanding all our kind messages to the caziques; we had, therefore, no other resource left than to march against them, and subdue them by force of arms. Each of these townships (for there were three) was strongly situated, and we therefore left our allies, with the baggage, in the camp, our captain only taking the most nimble and active of the Spanish troops with him, besides 300 warriors of Cinacatan. The distance to Guegustitlan was sixteen miles; but the enemy had everywhere cut down trees and constructed barricades along the line of our march to obstruct the cavalry; however, with the assistance of our Indian friends, we soon cleared these obstacles out of our way, and it was not long before we attacked one of the three townships. The place was well fortified and filled with warriors fully equipped for war; we, nevertheless, stormed the town, although it was even more difficult of access than Chamula. The enemy had not waited to offer any resistance to our arms, and we found the town quite deserted by its inhabitants, who had also carried off all their store of provisions; but it was not long before our Indian friends brought in two of the inhabitants prisoners, whom our captain immediately liberated, desiring them to go and call their countrymen. We staid one whole day in this place, during which time the inhabitants of all three townships submitted themselves as vassals to our emperor, and presented us with a small quantity of gold and some quetzal feathers, which are of great value in this country.

After we had returned to our camp we deliberated whether or not we should follow up Cortes' instructions, and lay the foundations of a town in this neighbourhood. Many of us were in favour of doing so, but others, who had lucrative possessions in Guacasualco, were quite opposed to it, and said we should have no shoes for the horses; that the most of us were wounded, and we were altogether too small in numbers to think of settling in a country so thickly populated: besides that, all the townships were strongly situated among steep mountains, inaccessible to our cavalry. But those who objected most to our founding a colony here were Luis Marin himself and Diego de Godoy, a very blustering sort of a man, both of whom felt more inclination to return to Guacasualco.

I have above spoken of a certain Alonso de Grado, who was a very turbulent fellow, though but a poor soldier. This man had managed to procure privately from Cortes a certain grant by which he was to have half the gold we should find in Chiapa when we had subjected this township. Grado now produced this document and claimed half of the gold found in the temples of this place, and of that which we had obtained from the inhabitants, altogether valued at about 15,000 pesos; but our captain maintained that, out of this gold, the value of the horses was to be deducted which had been killed in our recent campaign. This, added to other circumstances, gave rise to high words between the two, and Grado frequently made use of unbecoming expressions during the dispute; and the secretary Godoy, to make matters worse, now also put in his word, and things at length came to such a pass that Luis Marin lost all patience, and threw both these gentlemen into chains. After they had been in prison for about eight days, our captain sent Grado on his parole to Mexico, and also released Godoy, who had shown full contrition for his past behaviour. This was very impolitic on the part of Luis Marin as far as regarded himself, for Grado and Godoy now concocted measures together, and the latter wrote a letter to Cortes, in which he scandalized our captain in every possible manner. Alonso de Grado also requested me to draw up a letter to Cortes, in which he wished me to exculpate him in this affair, for he had been assured by Godoy that Cortes would believe me. I willingly complied with his request, and drew up a faithful account of the whole matter, but stated that no blame could be attached to Luis Marin. With these letters Grado set out for Mexico, after our captain had made him promise on oath to appear before Cortes within the space of eight days; for the distance from this place to Mexico by the road we had marched was 760 miles.